You
may have heard that genetically modified (GM) foods are safe, properly
tested, and necessary to feed a hungry world. UNTRUE! Genetically
modified organisms (GMOs), introduced into our food supply in the
mid-1990s, are one of history�s most dangerous and radical changes
in our diet. These largely unregulated ingredients are in 60-70% of
the foods in the US, but are well worth efforts to avoid them.

Fortunately,
health-conscious retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and growers
are now participating in The Campaign for Healthier Eating in America,
which will eliminate GMOs from thousands of products. This will make
it easier for you to feed your family a healthier �non-GMO� diet and
may even end the genetic engineering of the entire US food supply.
This industry-wide rejection of GMOs can be achieved by a �tipping
point,� in which a sufficient number of shoppers in the US avoiding
GM ingredients force the major food companies to stop using them.

Informed
European Shoppers Say No to GMOs

Europe
reached the tipping point in April 1999 and within
a single week, virtually all major manufacturers publicly committed
to stop using GM ingredients in their European brands. This consumer-led
revolt against GMOs in the EU was generated by a February 1999 media
firestorm after a top GMO safety researcher, Dr. Arpad Pusztai, was
�ungagged by Parliament� and able to tell this alarming story to the
press.

Dr.
Pusztai was the world�s top researcher in his field and a senior researcher
at the prestigious Rowett Institute in Scotland. He had been working
on a UK government grant to design long-term testing protocols that
were intended to become part of the official European GM food safety
assessment process. But when Pusztai fed supposedly harmless GM to
rats, they developed potentially pre-cancerous cell growth, smaller
brains, livers, and testicles, partially atrophied livers, and a damaged
immune system. Moreover, the results clearly indicated that the cause
of the problem was due to the unpredictable side effects arising from
the process of genetic engineering itself. In other words, it suggested
that the GM foods already on the market, which were created from the
same process, might also create such effects. When he expressed his
concern he was fired from his job after 35 years and silenced with
threats of a lawsuit, his 20 member research team was disbanded, the
testing protocols were abandoned, and the pro-GM establishment embarked
on an extensive disinformation campaign to discredit the study�s results
and protect the reputation of GM foods. But when an invitation to
testify before Parliament allowed Pusztai to finally tell his story,
all hell broke loose. The outpouring of news coverage, wrote one columnist,
�divided society into two warring blocs�[1]
over the GM food issue. The tipping point was reached quickly thanks
to the buying power of consumers that convinced manufacturers to keep
GMOs out of the EU, in spite of official approvals by the pro-GM European
Commission.

Americans
are Uninformed and Misinformed on GMOs

In
the US, the Pusztai story was barely mentioned. Project Censored described
it as one of the 10 most underreported events of the year. Indeed,
the US mainstream media has been consistently close-lipped about the
enormous health risks of GM foods. They
failed to cover the preliminary study from the Russian National Academy
of Sciences, for example, that showed that more than half the offspring
of mother rats fed GM soy died within three weeks (compared to 9%
from mothers fed natural soy). They neglected to report that the only
human GM feeding study ever published showed that the foreign genes
inserted into GM food crops can transfer into the DNA of our gut bacteria.
This means that long after we stop eating GM corn chips, our intestinal
flora might continue to manufacture the �Bt� pesticide that the GM
corn plants are engineered to produce. And Americans were not told
about the estimated 10,000 sheep that died within 5-7 days of grazing
on GM cotton plants�also designed to produce this Bt-toxin.

Many
consumers in the US mistakenly believe that the FDA approves GM foods
through rigorous, in-depth, long-term studies. In reality, the agency
has absolutely no safety testing requirements. (The tests that biotech
companies voluntarily perform on their own crops are often meticulously
designed to avoid finding problems.) The reason for the FDA�s industry-friendly
policy on GMOs is that the White House (under the first George Bush)
ordered the agency to promote biotechnology. Also, the person in charge
of developing the policy was the former attorney of biotech giant
Monsanto�and later their vice president. The policy he oversaw claimed
that the agency was not aware of any information showing that GM crops
were different �in any meaningful or uniform way,� and therefore didn�t
need testing. But 44,000 FDA internal documents made public from
a lawsuit show that this was a complete lie. The overwhelming
consensus among the FDA�s own scientists was that GM foods were quite
different and could lead to unpredictable and hard-to-detect allergens,
toxins, new diseases, and nutritional problems. They had urged superiors
to require long-term studies, but were ignored. Evidence of this apparent
fraud at the FDA was presented at a Washington, D.C. press conference
in 1999. Although major media were in attendance, they didn�t run
that story either.

Americans
know so little about this subject, that only about 1 in 4 are aware
that they have ever eaten a GM food in their lives (even though the
vast majority of processed foods contain derivatives from the four
major GM crops: soy, corn, cottonseed and canola). Thus, the same
companies that carefully avoid GM ingredients for concerned Europeans
are happy to sell GMOs to unknowing consumers in the US.

The
Campaign is Moving the Market to Non-GMO

The
fact that GMOs flourish in the US because of ignorance leaves the
biotech industry extremely vulnerable. If some campaign or event were
to push this issue above the national radar screen, consumer reaction
could force a Euro-style retreat from GMOs. How many of us would have
to reject brands that contain GMOs to reach this tipping point? Even
5 percent of shoppers, or 15 million Americans, would likely be more
than enough. When marketing executives at top companies see the drop
in market share and the emergence of a trend, kicking out GMOs will
be a natural reaction. After all, the brands don�t gain anything from
using them. Their foods aren�t fresher, tastier, or healthier. The
two major traits in GM crops are herbicide tolerance, which allows
farmers to spray herbicide on the crops without killing them, and
pesticide production, in which the crops produce an insect-killing
toxin in every cell.

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So
how do we inspire enough consumers to avoid GM brands? Do the math.
Already, 29 percent of Americans are strongly opposed to GM foods
and believe they are unsafe.[2]
That represents about 87 million people. But even among the 28 million
Americans who regularly buy organic (and therefore non-GMO) food,[3] many do not conscientiously
avoid GM ingredients in their non-organic purchases; they usually
don�t know how. By educating health-conscious shoppers about GM
food dangers and providing clear choices in the store, brands without
GM ingredients will have the clear advantage. As millions begin
to make brand choices based on GMO content, it is just a matter of
time before the food industry responds.

Three
Practical Industry and Consumer Steps to Success

The
nonpartisan Campaign for Healthier Eating in America will move the
market in three ways.

1.
Industry-Wide GMO Cleanout

The
Campaign is helping to orchestrate a full clean out of GMOs from the
entire natural food industry. The mechanism is being organized by
a group called The Non-GMO Project, which offers a uniform standard
for defining non-GMO and a low-cost, online, third-party verification
program to ensure that farming and production methods are designed
to meet that standard. When the Campaign for Healthier Eating was
announced at the March 2007 Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, California,
the Non-GMO Project announced endorsements from Whole Foods Market,
United Natural Foods (the industry�s largest distributor), Eden Foods,
Lundberg Family Farms, and Straus Family Creamery. Many others throughout
the natural product sector, including Organic Valley and Nature�s
Path, have also jumped on board this impressive initiative in self-regulation
and healthier food. Retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and growers
are embracing this practical plan to rid their industry of GMOs.

Organic
products are included in this program. They are not allowed to use
GMOs and have been an important oasis for non-GMO shoppers. But research
shows that some batches of organic seed and crops contain tiny amounts
of GM contamination. If unchecked, this can grow over time. By including
the organic sector in the campaign, organic producers will use GMO
testing methods and procedures that will help clean up seeds and crops
and ensure that certified organic foods continue to be a trusted source
of non-GMO products.

2.
Educating Health-Conscious Shoppers

To
reach health-conscious shoppers, the Campaign will provide GMO-education
centers in natural food stores nationwide. The brochures, books, DVDs,
and CDs, will make it absolutely unmistakable that �Healthy Eating
Means No GMOs.� The Campaign will also provide regular features on
GMO health risks to magazines and websites. These compelling facts
should inspire a turning point in your digestive life.

3.
Providing Clear Non-GMO Product Choices in the Store

As
more and more products participate in The Non-GMO Project�s verification
program, the Campaign will offer a series of updated Non-GMO Shopping
Guides, listing non-GMO products by brand and category. It is expected
that all the brands in the natural products industry will be able
to successfully achieve non-GMO status within about 18 months. At
that time the Campaign will provide in-store, on-shelf labels for
retailers to indicate any holdout products that have not participated
in the GMO cleanout and are still using GM ingredients.

New
Book Genetic Roulette Documents Serious Health Dangers

The
sourcebook for the Campaign is the newly released Genetic
Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods.
With input from more than 30 scientists over two years, it presents
65 health risks of GM foods and why current safety assessments are
not competent to protect us from most of them. The book documents
lab animals with damage to virtually every system and organ studied;
thousands of sick, sterile, or dead livestock; and people around the
world who have traced toxic or allergic reactions to eating GM products,
breathing GM pollen, or touching GM crops at harvest. It also exposes
many incorrect assumptions that were used to support GM approvals.
Organizations worldwide are presenting the book to policy makers as
evidence that GM foods are unsafe and need to be removed immediately.

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But
we don�t need to wait for governments to step in. We can make healthier
choices for ourselves, our families, and our schools now, and together
we can inspire the tipping point for healthier, non-GM eating in America.
We believe that this can be achieved within the next 24 months.

Jeffrey M. Smith
is working with a team of international scientists to catalog all known
health risks of GM foods. He is the author of Seeds of Deception, the
world's bestselling book on GM food, and the producer of the video, Hidden
Dangers in Kids' Meals.